Kurama's POV
When he came too, the first thing he registered was crying. Wailing, more accurately. For a moment, he couldn't work out where it was coming from. Then he had to scold his own idiocy. The Woman had been pregnant, to a strong, little thing. Foetuses with that much chakra typically struggle to remain past the first trimester. He had seen it before. His previous gaoler had had to help a few women with those types of pregnancies. It was also why the Uchiha Clan often went a decade without any children and were becoming one of the smallest Clans in the village.
Kurama hadn't mentioned anything to the Woman, she never wanted to listen to him anyway. Instead, he had sent a trickle of chakra towards the forming baby, helping it stabiles itself. He knew very little about babies but he knew healing chakra would help keep the pregnancy viable. He had had no idea if the thing needed it, but he had shrugged and figured at least it would been amusing to see the temperamental Woman try to handle a baby.
"WOMAN!" He roared before groaning at the ringing it caused in his head. "Shut that thing up!"
The screaming increased.
"WOMAN!" He paused. Normally she yelled at him for things like this. Not that he wanted to hear her raised voice at the moment. He felt a presence enter the connection between him and his holder and peeked an eye open. The area looked different. The bars between them were a burnt red and only vertical, instead of the ashy grey checkerboard he saw whenever the Woman wanted to tell him to shut up. The entire space had a red and black look to it, as well as a flooded look.
The crying was also louder now. Looking past the bars he saw a flailing form laying on the damp floor. The thing had two legs, two arms, tan skin, and a head of the obnoxiously blonde hair that the Woman's partner had. The thing also had whisker marks on its cheeks and a sealing mark on its belly.
"Woman? Where are you?" he called, his voice cracking. He watched the baby wiggle, their tiny fists shaking under their chin. Hers. She was a girl. "Woman! Your girl is here!"
"Shh, you're alright," a male voice whispered through the space.
Kurama could tell that he was hearing what the baby could hear. He knew what that meant, and what it meant that the baby was in front of his cage. But it couldn't be that. He hadn't tried to escape. The seal had risked weakening during labour, but he hadn't tried to actively break it. And besides, the Idiot had been there to hold it closed.
"Your name is Naruto, isn't it?" the voice asked. The back wall filled for a moment of a blond man picking up the baby, a strained smile on his face, but it was not the Idiot. "Such a beautiful name for a beautiful little girl."
"She seems to like you."
Kurama knew that voice. It was the Old Man. The baby's cries were peppering out and she blinked up at the two men, allowing the fox a glimpse of them.
"Are you sure I should take her, Lord Third?"
"Yes, Inoichi. She's calm with you and I believe it would be safest at the moment."
"Not to mention none of Choji's baby things will fit her," a third voice added. "But I'll check when I get home to see if we have any of his old things. No small diapers though."
"We should have enough clothing and things. Thanks, Choza," Inoichi assured. "Momiji and I were given way too much stuff for Ino."
The baby gave another cry.
"Shh, shh, Naruto, you're alright. You're safe."
"She might be hungry," the Big Man voiced.
"Shit, we don't have formula at home. Maybe Momiji can breastfeed Naruto as well, but I don't want her to have to try to suddenly feed two hungry babies."
"I'll get you provisions as soon as I can. I'll also send our best midwife over. Take Naruto home, get her warm, if Momiji isn't willing or unable to feed her the midwife will be able to give her a bottle.," instructed the Third.
"Of course." The man, the Nurture paused. "There isn't a risk of that monster getting out, is there?"
"No, Minato knew what he was doing when he created the seal. He was well aware of the risks the Nine-Tails posed to his wife and child."
As the baby disappeared from the Seal space, Kurama whispered, "I didn't try to escape."
/ / / / /
The Nurture and his wife were sufficient to look after his new gaoler. They were a little worried that she wasn't as sociable as the other babies but he was glad she wasn't like her adopted sister, or the older baby, Big Boy. They were always squealing and going near people. People already shunned the baby because of him. It was better that she realised that early. Perhaps she would be better to handle the outcast nature that came from being a Jinchuriki. They were a little surprised that the baby didn't get sick like theirs did, but Kuruma had his theories for why that was. At first, he thought the seal that the Idiot had put on him was weak, but whilst it did look like it would allow his chakra to leak through and slowly loosen it, that was not why the infant was healing so quickly. Apparently, he had given her a little too much chakra as a foetus that she didn't need to pull on the endless pool locked behind the seal yet.
It was this fact alone that gave him a small, tiny, miniscule amount of fondness for the baby. He was also bored, very bored. And that was why he occasionally talked to her. She wasn't very verbal yet, mostly a string of gurgles, but when she crawled her way into the room connecting the two, he found himself monologuing at her and swearing to himself that she understood what he was saying.
"The Woman was pretty fiery. The only one not afraid of her was the Idiot… though I think he might have been too stupid to be scared. You better not take after him. Your mother might have been annoying but arguing with her was my only entertainment."
The baby giggled, slamming its chubby arms into the water on the ground. This wasn't the first time she had behaved like this with the fox. When he lowered his head to the bars and snorted at her she squealed, flailing her arms more. Water splashed in his eyes, making him swear and shake his head. He froze when his words were repeated back to him. Realising what happened he cursed again, only for it to be echoed back at him again.
"No! Stop that!" he demanded. The baby didn't listen. "Listen here, you brat!"
The baby stopped laughing and he cursed. Instantly he realised his mistake but couldn't help but notice that she cheered up again.
"Naruto," someone called from outside. Female Nurture's image appeared on the far wall as the baby's form disappeared from the floor in front of his cage. "There you are, darling."
In response, the baby swore. Kurama buried his head under a paw and groaned.
"Naruto!" Female Nurture yelped. "Where did you learn that word?"
"Puppy!" the baby happily proclaimed.
"I'M NOT A DAMN PUPPY! YOU ARE!"
"Puppy mad," the pup added, making Female Nurture frown deeply.
/ / / / /
He had hoped that since his new host was only a baby that the usual hostility would at least be delayed. The Woman had been young when she became his gaoler but at least she had been old enough to understand that everyone's hatred was targeted at him, not so much her. Unfortunately, no, villagers glared at the one year old as her adopted family went shopping, went for walks, or went to visit friends. Nurture's teammates were harmless, but one of their wives wasn't exactly a fan and had banned Naruto from her house.
Kurama wasn't too worried about that woman. He had noticed that The Pup reacted to the ones who were truly dangerous, or were liable to become dangerous as she aged. He could feel her sensory chakra in action even now. It was only a fledgling of an ability but already it was able to differentiate threat from annoyance. Even so, she was too young to truly do anything with the skill, and she certainly couldn't keep it going whilst sleeping.
However, he didn't need to sleep as much as a human, no matter said human's chakra level, and he was no slouch when it came to sensing his surroundings either. He wasn't sure when he had started doing it but somewhere during his long life, he had started scanning the area surrounding him and his host. He had been doing it before The Pup became his holder but he wasn't sure if he started doing it early during his time with The Woman, or after she got pregnant. He knew it wasn't during his time with The Old Hag. She had been his least favourite host so far. At least The Woman was fun to annoy, even if she saw herself as the first line of defence between him and everyone else. And The Pup was entertaining since she would get excited and fall on her face as she tried to walk. That was always enjoyable. But The Old Hag had seen him as a beast that needed to be caged. She was his first gaoler, his true one. It did make him wonder what The Pup would end up seeing herself as when it came to him.
As he mused over the topic, he felt a pinprick of darkness appear on his radar. No, two pinpricks. He reached out for them. The leaching blackness of the chakra also had a hollow feel to it. Empty, endlessly blank, but strong, and coming straight for them. They had no real wish to harm them, but they intended too.
"PUP, WAKE UP!" he roared.
The Pup's eyes flew open and Kurama could see two shadows hovering in the nursery. Instantly, The Pup opened her mouth and screamed. The noise made his ears ring and one of the intruders stumble back. The other turned towards the other cot where the other baby started to cry as well.
"ICHI, ICHI!" The Pup started to call.
The blond man barrelled into the room, summoned by The Pup's initial scream, seeing the two ninjas standing in the middle of his daughters' room. The man immediately tried to invade one of the man's minds but the two strangers made for the window, disappearing into the night.
"Momiji, look after the girls," the Nurture instructed his wife before pursuing the attackers.
He should have paid more attention. Perhaps if he had noticed them entering the estate, recognised them as not belonging to the Clan than The Pup would have been able to stay with that family. They had been kind to her, had truly seen her as one of their own. But powerful members of the village used the attack to force the Yamanakas to give up The Pup and put her in the orphanage. Kurama doubted he would ever be able to forgive himself. If only he had looked after his Pup better, she could have grown up in a loving home. Instead, he spent most days trying hard to heal her as best he could. He didn't even care at that point that healing her so much and so often was weakening the seal. It hadn't even crossed his mind that if she died, he would be able to break the seal and escape.
She was just a little pup; she didn't deserve to be tormented just because she was the one with the best chakra to cage him. She hadn't chosen to be his gaoler.
/ / / / / /
He gained a true chance to break free thanks to the Uchiha Brat. Not only did The Pup pull on more of his power than she had ever done before in one battle but then she died. The moment the chidori had pierced her chest, she had died, her heart being electrocuted. For half a beat he contemplated breaking free. It would be so easy. He could also take the Uchiha Brat out since he didn't know the secret to his eyes. The Brat deserved to die anyway, killing his host. She had been trying to save him from being used, from being controlled and possessed.
Trying to argue that she had stolen his chakra to heal herself, he made her heart start beating again. She was tittering on the edge of consciousness from the pain so he channelled more energy into her limps, puppeteering them to fend off the Uchiha Brat until she regained control. After the battle, when the brutality of the battle finally caught up to her body, she collapsed, plunging them both into darkness. He slowed his focus on her heart, lowering its beating as far as he could and made sure to funnel chakra through her brain to stave off any brain damage. From there he looked for the damages that were forcing her to die even with him controlling her heart.
There was internal bleeding, extensive internal bruising, and many of her internal organs and muscles had lightning damage. One of her biggest issues was also a small blessing in disguise, though he doubted The Pup would notice. Her treatment at the hands at the Bitch who ran the orphanage had left scar tissue in a few parts of her body. Her uterus was covered in it, and the bottom of her lungs had been too. The Uchiha Brat's attack had shredded her lungs, literally opening the old wounds that he hadn't been able to heal properly at the time. Now, with the seal weakened over time he was able to heal them in full.
He did chuckle at the idea that The Pup was at risk of being oxygen high when she woke up. He wasn't sure how much her breathing had been affected by the old injury.
Once the lungs had been healed, he was able to start her heart back at a steady pace. After a minute he pulled back, and almost howled with joy when the organ kept pulsing. It wasn't too long after that she regained consciousness. He wished she had stayed out for longer, since now she had to feel the pain of her injuries until he finished healing her. Looking at the work he had to do, it was going to take a long time to fix everything.
Seeing how well her lungs had recovered he wished he had moved Naruto's body to take the chidori in a part of her body that would have allowed the lightning to open the other scar tissue. Then again, he might have ended up being in the same situation he had been all those years ago, having to chose her life over healing her fully. He wondered if The Pup would ever forgive him for not taking the risk, to see if he could do it. There had always been a small chance he could have done both, but The Pup's life wasn't something he had found himself willing to gamble at that moment.
/ / / / / /
When his darker half had asked who had reared The Pup, who had had the influence to result in her treating Kurama like an equal, he had tried not to laugh. He didn't know if there was a true answer to that, but he had long ago noticed that he had started viewing them as such long ago. They had butted heads, especially when Kurama had tried to scare off The Gentle One before he could hurt The Pup. At the time he hadn't known The Gentle One was aware he resided in The Pup. If he had, he wouldn't have hurt The Pup's love.
As his darker self had stared at The Pup Kurama had felt a well of pride bloom. Whilst she would probably still swear and blame it on him, which was fair, she wasn't the little girl he had feared wouldn't see adulthood. No matter what, he didn't want her growing to end.
When the chain wrapped around his neck it was an easy choice. Whilst The Pup tried to think of a way to save him, he turned to the Sand Man, the one who would most understand what she was about to suffer.
"Gaara," he growled, "get my Pup to her father! He has my other half in him, and knows how to transfer that part of me into her. Promise me. Promise me you'll save Naruto!"
"Of course," the man assured without hesitation.
"Kurama, don't give up now," Naruto snapped, as she tried to keep her footing within his chakra form. It was clear by the drawn expression on her face that it was a strain to stay connected with him. There was no sign of her giving up, and no sign that she had even thought about what was going to happen to her once he was stolen from her. His plan may not work, he had only suggested it on a desperate hope.
"Naruto, how do you view yourself in regards to me?"
"I told you before, I see you as a pain in my ass!" She looked at him furiously when he snorted.
"I see you as a yipping pup," he taunted. "And a valued friend."
He barely managed the words before searing heat engulfed his body. He felt too stretched and too compressed. The part of his mind and soul that was bound to Naruto's, the part that always felt her heart beat, felt her pain, shrank and shrank until he was painfully yanked through the pinhole. He was torn, mutilated, feeling burnt and frozen. He was too large, too empty. His vision lost focus. Desperately, he shook off the feeling, staring intently as Sand Man caught Naruto on his sand cloud. The red head shot Shukaku a despairing look over his shoulder as he shoots across the battlefield. His gaze never wavered from The Pup as he was pulled into the statue last.
"I'm sorry. I tried everything I could to look after you. I tried to heal you, please know that."
R and R if you like.